WoG.com is closing

Dear users,

For quite some time already, activity on WoG.com has been minimal, and the English WoG-forums have also seen a steady decrease in activity. As much as it saddens us, the moderator team does not see this trend changing, especially with the uncertain future of the Gothic franchise. The administrators of World Of Players have been going through sites with little or no activity with the intent to archive some of those sites, and close their forums. It did not come as a surprise to us moderators that the English World of Gothic was on this list. It also did not take us a long time to reach a consensus on the fact that when the only way to "save" WoG-eng would be increased activity not only on the forums, but especially on the website, there really is no realistic way to do this.

I know many members of the English community have foreseen this coming, and that it as such won't come as a surprise to you. Others might have hoped for a resurrection or renaissance of the community (and the franchise), but those hopes were in vain. It's certainly with no small amount of sadness that we announce that WoG-eng will very soon come to its end; it is only a matter of days until the site will be archived, and the forum will remain open for a short while longer (until May, or so). After that, the forum will be closed.

Both the website and the forum discussions will still be available for reading, however there will be no new activity on them. The few english users that are active on the English World of Gothic forums can still communicate in Off-Topic English forums around the World of Players network (for example Pirate's Pawned Pegleg Pub in the World of Risen area) and for related Gothic Discussions, the German team has kindly stated that we are more than welcome to open english threads on that side.

Despite its steady decline in the past few years, there was a time when WoG-eng was a welcoming, vibrant and friendly gathering place for friends of this awesome RPG series. It was never a huge community, but in some way perhaps that was part of its strength and attraction; it was large enough for rich discussion, but still small enough for everyone to "know" everyone else. People have connected to other people and, in some cases, forged bonds of friendship that extent beyond the forum, and I'm sure many of us who've been here for years have fond memories of the forums. But all things come to an end. And this is the end of WoG-eng as we know it. Thank you for these years and for the fun times.

We encourage discussion of this decision, but wish to remind everyone to remain civil even if you feel angry or disappointed. So take this chance to decide together if you want there to be a future for the community after WoG-eng, and if so, in what form and where. It truly is entirely up to you whether the community disperses altogether, or continues to exist in any form.